Xceligent Keeps Finger on the Pulse of Commercial Markets

Xceligent Inc. is changing the way the commercial real estate game is played in Northwest Arkansas.

So says Jordan Ligon, Xceligent’s regional director for Northwest Arkansas, Little Rock and Springfield, Mo.

“It’s definitely been well-received,” Ligon said of Xceligent’s commercial data exchange system. “I would say anybody that looks at themselves as a player in the commercial real estate game, they’re members of our database.

“If not, you’re doing your clients a disservice.”

Based in Independence, Mo., Xceligent is a national online real estate data company that tracks all industrial, office and retail properties in Northwest Arkansas and about 30 other markets. The company decided to expand to Northwest Arkansas in late 2009, at the suggestion of brokers in Little Rock.

Ligon was hired in spring 2010, and has helped maintain the advisory boards that are the bedrock of Xceligent. The result is the most comprehensive collection of data on commercial properties Northwest Arkansas has ever known.

“Actually, it doesn’t even have to be a listing to be in our database,” Ligon said. “If it’s a commercial property, it’s in the database.”

 

Unique Perspective

Ligon was splitting time between two jobs when he first was approached by the powers that be at Xceligent in regard to the regional director’s position. Working as a researcher for Streetsmart Data Services LLC – a provider of both commercial and residential real estate data – and as a part-time broker at Irwin Partners – a real estate investment, brokerage and development firm – Ligon in essence was able to see the game from both sidelines.

That proved to be attractive to Xceligent, which had partnered with LoopNet Inc. – an online provider of commercial real estate marketing, technology and information services – in an effort to compete with CoStar Group Inc. CoStar is yet another provider of information, analytic and marketing services, and the largest.

CoStar also is concentrated on the East Coast and major markets, while Xceligent has focused primarily on more mid-sized markets.

“We were really good in the markets we were in,” Ligon said. “We were winning those markets, meaning we were the primary source for the database in the commercial real estate game.

“But we didn’t have the resources to grow, so LoopNet stepped in and said, ‘Hey, we like what you’re doing.'”

With LoopNet as an investor, the idea was for Xceligent to add five to six markets a year, including larger ones like Atlanta, Dallas and Memphis. That plan was nixed when CoStar put together its pending deal to acquire LoopNet.

“They thought, ‘If we take their funding away, they’ll go away,'” Ligon said.

Instead, Ligon said Xceligent simply sought new investors.

“We feel very confident that something will be worked out, hopefully by the start of the third quarter, definitely by fourth quarter,” he said.

Vice presidents Steig Seaward and David O’Rell did not respond to interview requests for this story, but Xceligent founder and CEO Doug Curry told The Oklahoman in late May the company is “poised to move ahead faster than ever.”

 “In the last four years, we have proven that we can win market after market and create an accurate, fully researched commercial information source,” Curry said.

 

All in Agreement

Local brokers appear to agree with Curry, and their input actually is sought by Xceligent before the company enters a market. Ligon said Xceligent typically reaches out to brokers in a targeted market to gauge interest, and only enters it after being “invited.”

Once that happens, Xceligent goes immediately to work setting up its advisory boards. In Northwest Arkansas, there are boards for the office, industrial and retail segments.

A total of 18 brokers make up the three boards in Northwest Arkansas. They represent practically all of the area’s heavy-hitters, and lend instant credibility to Xceligent’s efforts.

“The heart of the database is the brokers,” Ligon said. “That’s what sells us as a company going into a new market, and it’s what allows us to continue to have success in a market.”

Jordan Jeter, a Certified Commercial Investment Member and partner at Flake & Kelley Commercial, and Butch Gurganus, a CCIM and principal at Colliers International, serve as advisory board members. Both said the system has far-reaching benefits.

For starters, meetings are held at least once a quarter to make sure Xceligent’s database has the most up-to-date information. Ligon and Xceligent then go about the business of issuing reports based on the information gathered.

In Northwest Arkansas, that includes commercial properties in Benton, Crawford, Sebastian and Washington counties. Over the next two years, Xceligent hopes to establish a presence in the top 60 markets nationwide, Ligon said.

“The cool thing Xceligent does, and what we do on the advisory board,” Jeter said, “is we actually sit down and go through every single property, so it’s way more accurate.”

Additionally, Xceligent senior market analyst Deena Sweat makes periodic follow-up phone calls to guarantee the accuracy of the property listings. That’s an important step in the process for brokers often more busy trying to make deals happen than updating listings.

“She’ll call and say, ‘Let’s take 15 minutes to do this,'” Jeter said. “That way you feel a little more obligated to go through that process. But it’s a good obligation.”

Gurganus feels similarly about the board meetings. In addition to a stronger sense of obligation to attend, Gurganus said Xceligent’s coordination of the meetings makes sure the organizational burden doesn’t fall on an individual broker.

“Without Xceligent, we might not get together and go over that stuff,” he said.

The meetings have other benefits, too. Both Jeter and Gurganus said potential conflicts usually are more easily settled when the brokers gather for face-to-face meetings.

Xceligent’s services, however, extend beyond the meetings. A variety of in-depth reports, comps and analytics are available for the subscription fees Xceligent charges.

“The money is made off subscriptions,” Ligon said. “The main subscribers are going to be general brokerage firms or brokers. Then there are appraisers, chambers of commerce, economic development centers and also banks and other financial institutions.”

The brokers believe the money is well-spent. Gurganus said the presence of Ligon separates Xceligent from CoStar in the local market.

“I can’t just pick up the phone and call someone at CoStar for an answer,” Gurganus said. “With Xceligent, I can call Jordan and know that he knows these properties.”

Knowing the properties is Xceligent’s business, and to this point, it has proved to be a good one in Northwest Arkansas.

“Honestly, it sounded like a really good deal from the beginning,” Jeter said. “Now I can say they are the most pro-active company we’ve worked with.”